Wild at Oilers
The Minnesota Wild look to build off the team's first win under interim coach Dean Evason and complete a successful trek through Western Canada on Friday when they visit the Edmonton Oilers. The Wild, who have won the first two meetings this season with Oilers, sport a sizzling 14-3-0 record in their last 17 games in Edmonton.
Minnesota improved to 1-1-0 since Evason replaced the fired Bruce Boudreau after Alex Galchenyuk scored the tying goal and the shootout winner in a 4-3 victory over Vancouver on Wednesday. Kevin Fiala also scored to record his 11th point (six goals, five assists) in his past eight games for the Wild, who have inserted themselves into the wild-card conversation following an 8-4-1 mark in their last 13 contests. Edmonton collected at least a point for the 15th time in its last 19 games (12-4-3) since New Year's Eve following Wednesday's 2-1 overtime loss to Boston. "It's a valuable point for us, but what we want to learn from that game is we need some swagger early on," said Sam Gagner, who has scored four of his five goals on the season in the last 11 games.
TIME: 9 p.m. ET. TV: FS Wisconsin, FS North-Plus, Sportsnet West
ABOUT THE WILD (28-24-7): Perhaps the sight of the Oilers will light a spark under Eric Staal, who has collected just three of his club-best 41 points in February. The 35-year-old erupted for two goals and an assist in Minnesota's 3-0 win over Edmonton on Oct. 22 before recording one of each in a 6-5 victory on Dec. 12 to boost his point total to 26 (eight goals, 18 assists) in 23 career encounters. Fellow forward Jordan Greenway has picked up four (one goal, three assists) of his 23 points against the Oilers while Edmonton first-round draft pick Devan Dubnyk owns a 10-4-0 record with two shutouts and a 1.66 goals-against average versus his former club.
ABOUT THE OILERS (32-21-7): Superstar captain Connor McDavid returned to practice on Thursday and will accompany the team on its upcoming three-game road trip through California, general manager Ken Holland announced. "I think the plan was just to go out and see how it felt this morning. It feels good," said McDavid, who has seen his team post a 3-1-1 mark in his absence with a quad injury. "We knew practice wouldn't be too hard or too physical, so we just did some flow drills. I just jumped in on that." NHL First Star of the Week Leon Draisaitl, who has just one of his NHL-best 95 points in the season series against Minnesota, saw his five-game point streak (five goals, seven assists) come to a halt versus the Bruins.
OVERTIME
1. Gagner leads Edmonton with 18 points in his career versus Minnesota, followed by C Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (17).
2. Minnesota D Jared Spurgeon, who is an Edmonton native, has recorded just seven of his 25 points on the road this season.
3. Oilers G Mike Smith saw his career record dip to 6-14-2 in 23 appearances versus the Wild after yielding nine goals on 56 shots in two losses this season.